Ecuadorian Health Minister Caroline Chang said on Wednesday that 7 new cases of A/H1N1 flu have been confirmed in the country, bringing the total number of infections to 8.

Chang said that from the seven new cases, six of the new cases were from Guayaquil in the west and the other involved a U.S. citizen who recently arrived in the country. The U.S. patient was isolated in Eugenio Espejo Hospital of Quito.

The country's first infection case was a minor from Guayaquil, who returned on May 10 from the United States.

Chang said that only one case from Guayaquil was related to the first confirmed case last week. The rest was still under research.

At a press conference, Chang said that "there were done the lab tests used in all the region, and the patients were positive on H1N1 flu virus."

Chang called on people to be calmed and she said that in the coming days there could be more confirmed cases in the country, because the number of infections in all the world has risen and the virus is spreading from the Americas.

There are 213 patients under observance in Ecuador, because " they had a previous fast diagnosis, they have different symptoms, maybe they do not have a clear epidemic link," Chang said.

According to reports from the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of confirmed cases of the flu in the world rose to 10, 243 and the death toll reached 80 people.

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